


again but better

by melodyinlove



Category: MXM (Band), NU'EST, Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Office, Exes to Lovers, Exes with Benefits, M/M, Minor Aaron Kwak | Aron/Choi Minki | Ren, Minor Choi Minki | Ren/Kang Dongho | Baekho, Minor Kang Daniel/Ong Seongwoo, Slow Build, big emo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 02:50:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15160829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodyinlove/pseuds/melodyinlove
Summary: jonghyun can't be picky about work when he's been unemployed for months and can barely afford rent, even if that means working with an ex-boyfriend he thought he would never have to see again. --youngmin for years has ignored the occasional texts from his first love that he doesn't know what to do when he suddenly appears right in front of his eyes.





	1. promises are made

**Author's Note:**

> notes to keep in mind: characters are 6 years older than their actual age, perceived mischaracterization have reasons that will be shown through backstory, yes this may seem like a main 2hyun fic and side youngdong at first but both ships will get their fair share in the story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the beginning to the storm

 

“Exes are dangerous territory, I’m telling you,” Minki slams the door as he walks in, storming into the living room and sitting on the couch with crossed arms, “I feel like such a fucking idiot.”

“What happened with you?” Youngmin furrows his eyebrows as he sits down next to Minki on the couch, “I thought you and Dongho were going well. He seemed like a ni--”

“N-not anymore!” Minki can feel his heart ache and his frustration build, “It was stupid of me to think we were going to work this time.”

Jonghyun walks into the living room, confused, “What’s going on? I heard yelling from outside.” He sits down next to Youngmin, casually eating chips as well.

“Something happened with him and Dongho,” Youngmin shrugs as he rubs Minki’s back in small circles.

“I had a feeling this was going to be a bad idea,” Jonghyun shakes his head in disappointment, leaning back on the couch, “Even when you were first with him in college, I never thought he was good enough for you, Minki.”

“I KNOW. I KNOW,” Minki almost screams as he feels his tears fall from his eyes, “You think I don’t know that now, Jonghyun? I _wish_ I could go back in time and tell myself that.”

Jonghyun’s expression softens as he looks at Minki, “I’m sorry. I just don’t even understand why you went back in the first place? What made you think it was going to be different this time around?”

Minki takes another deep breath as he looks up to the ceiling, “It was because it was _him._ ” He frowns as he looks at his housemates and sighs, “Everything about him was so familiar since we dated before. There was no frustrating small talk, awkward questions, or unsatisfying sex.” He scoffs before continuing, “Every word from his mouth, every touch on my body sent me back to the good memories that we had. I was so _stupid_ to think that it would last.”

The more he thinks about it, the more he can almost _feel_ it. Minki doesn’t think he can ever forget the way Dongho wraps his arms around his waist, the way their bodies would be so close together, and the way his hot breath felt as he whispered sweet nothings in Minki’s ear, calling him his “baby boy.” Minki more than anything just wants the memories to go away, but experiencing them twice in his life has left a dent in his heart.

Youngmin wraps his arms around Minki and Jonghyun moves to the other side of the couch to hold Minki as well. Minki’s tears continuously fall and he doesn’t even bother to wipe them. His hitched breath is the only other sound besides his audible sobbing for a while. “He was so good to me. He knew me so well and he made my heart flutter just like years ago,” his body shakes as he sniffles, “B-b-but, I guess I deserve it. Back then, I broke his heart and fell out of love. This time, I fell in love again, but he didn’t so he pushed me away.”

“So he just used you for sex then, huh?” Youngmin hisses, standing up immediately, “Come on, Jonghyun. Let’s beat this guy’s ass. I know he’s buff, but I think together, we c--”

“NO. STOP,” Minki yells, his eyes to the floor and his fists clenched, “He didn’t use me. Dongho’s not that kind of person at all. He told me he wanted to love me again and I believe him, but,” he takes another deep breath, “he’s scarred from the last time that he felt like he couldn’t give me what I wanted.”

“Why didn’t you tell him otherwise?” Jonghyun asks as he relaxes Minki’s hand and holds onto it instead, “You could’ve told him that you could wait or something like that.”

“I did,” Minki’s sniffles lessen, “But I was also scared of hurting him again that I let him push me away. It’s for the better. We both agreed that this shouldn’t have happened.”

“Minki…” Youngmin frowns.

“It’s okay! I’ll be okay… eventually!” Minki stands up and turns to look at his friends with swollen red eyes, “Just… don’t make the same mistake I did, okay? If this situation teaches you two to not do what I did and saves you two from the pain, then I’m okay,” Minki smiles softly, but the other two don’t have the heart to mirror it, “Just know that exes are exes for a reason. Promise me, you won’t ever be in the situation I’m in right now, okay?”

Minki holds out his pinky finger, wiggling it just a bit. He wants to stay strong for his friends. Minki’s never been the type to be sad for long anyway. Simply, Youngmin and Jonghyun look at each other for a brief second before hooking their pinky fingers together. They had no reason _not_ to promise.

“Promise.”

 

_3 months later…_

 

“Jonghyun! Have you paid rent yet?” Minki yells from the kitchen, busy cutting vegetables for dinner. Already checking his bank account, Jonghyun sat in the living room on his desktop.

“Uhhhhh,” Jonghyun clenches his teeth as he looks at the numbers, “I’ll do it soon. I promise! I just have to… ask my parents for some cash.”

“Still haven’t found a job yet?” Minki sighs, putting down his apron and knife. He walks over to Jonghyun and looks at the screen having no care about boundaries since they are best friends, “This is a problem.”

“I know…” Jonghyun sighs as he texts his mom. It would be probably better to call, but he didn’t have the guts to audibly tell his mom that he’s having a rough financial situation, “I’ve applied everywhere, Minki. I just can’t catch a break. Maybe I should just move back home at least there I won’t have to pay rent or groceries.”

“No way! You are _not_ leaving me,” Minki glares at Jonghyun, “Youngmin has said before that he can always hook you up at his company, right? I remember him saying that his department is close to the graphic design department because the bosses are high school friends or something like that. His company is huge too. It would be a great opportunity for you.”

Jonghyun frowns. He’s heard this multiple times before from Minki and every time he’s said the same thing, “I don’t like getting jobs this way and you know that. It makes me feel unskilled that I have to get it through connections and not my own merit.”

“Well, man. If you can’t even pay rent right now, I don’t think you have the right to be picky. You already swapped with Youngmin so that he gets the single room. You can’t budget any further with the rent and I’m not letting you go back home,” Minki turns around to Youngmin’s room, “Youngmin!”

“Minki, don’t!”

After a few moments, Youngmin peeks outside of his room, “Hmm? What’s up?”

“It’s nothing, I--” Minki covers Jonghyun’s mouth to prevent him from saying another word. Jonghyun tries to pull off Minki’s hand, but Minki is clearly stronger. He also tries licking Minki’s hand, but because of their close friendship he isn’t phased at all. The more Jonghyun tries to speak mumbled phrase, the tighter Minki’s squeeze is on his face that he eventually stops.

“Don’t mind what he’s saying,” Minki glares at Jonghyun to shut up, “Can you get Jonghyun a job at your company? He can’t even pay rent by himself right now that he had to ask his mom. He was even considering moving back home like what a l--” Jonghyun elbows Minki in the stomach and he quickly shuts up.

“Oh sure. I can text the department boss right now,” Youngmin pulls out his phone and grins, “Leave it to me.”

Jonghyun bites Minki’s hand to get him to finally let go, “You bitch!” Minki hisses while Jonghyun gives him a devious smile before looking to his other housemate, “Youngmin, you really don’t have to. I’ll be fin--”

“I just got you an interview for tomorrow at ten if that’s cool? Well, of course it’s cool you don’t have anything to do anyway!” Youngmin laughs with a slight amount of sarcasm, walking closer to his housemates as he wiggles his eyebrows, “Say ‘Thank you, Youngminnie.’”

“T-t-that was fast. Are you sure you’re not lying to me?”

“Nah, Jisung hyung just doesn’t have anything better to do with his life that he always responds quickly,” Youngmin smiles brightly, “Wait, don’t tell him I told you that though. We can go to work together from now on! It’ll be fun!” he turns around to head back into his room, but he stops in his tracks and turns back around, “Wait, I didn’t get a thank you.”

“Thank you… Youngminnie,” Jonghyun says with the softest blush on his cheeks.

“Anything for a friend!” Youngmin winks at Jonghyun casually, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some extra work to get done.”

Youngmin skips back into his room and slams the door shut. Minki looks at Jonghyun, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, “It always amazes me how flirty he is. Are you sure you two don’t have something going on?”

“He’s just a friend, you fucker,” Jonghyun rolls his eyes as he smacks Minki on the arm, “Besides, you know that love really isn’t for me right now.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Minki groans as he smacks Jonghyun back, “Trust issues, love isn’t real, all the pessimistic crap. I’m the one who got my heartbroken 3 months ago and I still believe in love.”

Jonghyun sighs, “You should be the one that’s more understanding than mister flirty pants over there. You were the one who is there with me when it all happened.”

Minki and Jonghyun have been friends since college where they were assigned roommates who absolutely despised each other. Along the way, they ended up enjoying each other’s company and becoming best friends. Youngmin appeared into their lives after college when they were looking for someone to share the apartment with online. Originally, Youngmin and Minki were roommates since Jonghyun wanted space for his gaming stuff, but because of the financial situation, they swapped.

“Yeah, but that was years ago, Jonghyun. I don’t want to see you letting that guy’s stupid actions control your life. He was an asshole,” Minki sits down on the chair next to him, “You deserve more than that.”

“I know. I know. It’s just… hard,” Jonghyun looks down at his fingers with a slight frown, “I really loved him.”

“You say this every time. Stop being so stagnant with your love life and change!” Minki hits Jonghyun’s thigh, “You deserve some good dick in your life.”

“Ugh, shut up. You ruined the mood,” Jonghyun turns back around to his desktop, “Just let me enjoy my last moments of freedom before tomorrow.”

Minki laughs as he gets up, smacking Jonghyun on the back of the head, “Dinner will be ready in 30. You better finish your match before then.”

  
  


“I’ll just say right now that this interview is mainly a formality,” Jisung smiles, holding Jonghyun’s resume in hand, “I trust Youngmin’s judgement and your resume is probably quite impressive. I’m a bit shocked that you’ve been struggling find a job.”

Jonghyun can’t help but feel a bit embarrassed. Youngmin didn’t have to tell his future boss that he’s been struggling, but whatever gets him the job, he supposes. “Ah, thank you, Mr. Yoon.”

Jisung shakes his finger, “No need for huge formalities, just call me hyung. Everyone in the office is around your age. I’m the oldest at 33, so we keep things a little more casual.” Jonghyun simply nods, keeping a mental note as Jisung looks through Jonghyun’s resume, “So what happened to your last company? Why did you stop working there?”

“It… filed for bankruptcy, so I didn’t really have a choice to stop. I just did,” Jonghyun dryly chuckles, taking a sip of water from the cup Jisung handed him earlier, “I promise you that I did some amazing work there. My designs were beautiful, but it just didn’t end up working out for the company.”

“That’s understandable, no worries,” Jisung looks back up at Jonghyun, “That’s why our graphic design department and marketing department work close together. We go hand and hand to make sure the public receives our work with a bang.”

“Oh really?” Jonghyun chuckles as he gets a little brave with his words to his superior, “Youngmin told me the two departments work closely because you and the marketing boss are high school friends.”

“That’s a minor detail,” Jisung laughs, “Has he told you anything else about us? Anything involving me in particular?” the interviewer leans forward, his ear facing Jonghyun.

“Nope,” Jonghyun shakes his head, “That’s all I got. He doesn’t really talk to me about work. Is there anything I need to know?”

“Ahhh, okay... I don’t have anything to tell you that you won’t figure out along the way,” Jisung almost jumps in his seat, “Oh! I almost forgot to ask you. What inspires you for your designs?”

“Uhhh,” Jonghyun thinks for a moment, his mind running blank, “Anime?”

Jisung deadpans, “A-anime?”

“Yup,” Jonghyun nods, “Anime.”

“I respect that,” Jisung laughs just a bit, “It sure is not what I was expecting. Most people say family, friends, or love.”

“Ahhh, yeah. Not me,” the interviewee can’t help but awkwardly laugh, regretting his answer. He probably should’ve just said a generic answer to keep his pride, “So, is there anything else?”

Jisung rubs his chin in thought, “Got any gossip on Youngmin for me?”

“No..?” Jonghyun tries to think of something, “He’s a bit of a flirt but he has no love life. That’s all I got.”

“Yeah, we’ve known that from the start,” Jisung smiles as he stands up, “Well, I think that’s all then. You can start tomorrow!”

Jonghyun stands up and immediately bows, “Thank you so much!”

“I look forward to your work,” Jisung pats the other’s head, “I also can’t wait to see how you’ll get along with the rest of the team.”

“Me too! See you tomorrow!”

Despite not wanting a job through connections, as Jonghyun walks out of the interview room, he can’t help but be excited for his new job. His boss seems fun, he’ll be working with not only people around the same age as him, but his housemate as well, and he gets to finally design again. Things are looking up for Kim Jonghyun.

  
  


“Wow, looking good for your first day,” Youngmin teases in the car, “Trying to impress your new coworkers? Don’t worry I think they’re all pretty cute. All single too, so you can shoot your shot!”

Jonghyun takes one hand off the steering wheel to smack Youngmin, “Shut up! I’m trying to look cute for my favorite girl group. Who knows if I’ll bump into them?”

“Jonghyun, if you weren’t driving, I would’ve seriously punched you,” Youngmin looks at his clenched first, “First of all, you’re not even into women! Second, I told you I’ve worked there for almost two years and I haven’t even seen them.”

“Hey, I don’t have to be sexually attracted to them to  want to look good for them. What if they let me take a selfie with them?” Jonghyun laughs, checking himself out in the mirror, “I mean I didn’t dress up that much. It just looks like a lot to you because I’m usually in a t-shirt and boxers.”

Youngmin shrugs, “Yeah, I guess so. It’s not a sight that I particularly want to see, but…”

“Oh shut up. Did you forget about that one time you got _super_ drunk and you took off all your clothes in front of us?” the light turns red and Jonghyun looks at Youngmin with a smirk, “That was not a sight I particularly wanted to see either.”

“H-h-hey! We promised not to talk about that night ever again!” Youngmin’s cheeks turn pink as that is not one of his proudest moments, “I was going through a lot that night!”

“That Donghyun guy texted you, right? Was that the reason?” the light turns green and Jonghyun keeps his eye on the road but he can see Youngmin’s cold expression from the corner of his eye.

“Yeah, that’s whatever though. I’d rather not talk about him.”

Jonghyun nods, “I understand. I didn’t plan on saying anything else anyway.”

The rest of the car ride is silent with the only sounds being the engines running and the occasional horn honking. Jonghyun regrets bringing up the topic, but it isn’t like he wanted to make the car ride uncomfortable. He was just going with the flow.

“I’m glad I have you to carpool with. It makes expenses lower and going to work less dull,” Youngmin remarks as he hops off Jonghyun’s car. Jonghyun almost questions whether Youngmin means the “less dull” part after the silence, but he doesn’t think too much into it.

“Yeah, it’s nice too because this company is a lot closer than the previous one I worked. Thanks again for hooking me up with the job, Youngmin.” Jonghyun locks the car doors and walks inside the company with the other.

The entrance of the company is beautiful, looking just like the videos with it’s bright lights and LED screens. Pictures of the company’s top stars and idol groups are everywhere, he can’t help but wonder if artists get tired of seeing their own face. Youngmin has to drag Jonghyun by the hand because he’s too busy looking at his surroundings to try to even figure out where to go. His interview the day before was in a separate building that was not nearly as decorated as the main headquarters.

“You’re lucky our offices are next door to each other. If it was across the building, I would’ve left you to figure it out yourself,” Youngmin scoffs, still holding onto Jonghyun’s hand, “My office is right here, and yours is to the left of mine.”

Youngmin lets go of Jonghyun’s hand and waves goodbye before entering the office. When the door closes in his face, he takes a moment to pause and relax himself before walking to enter his own. He’s never been good with social situations, being the huge introvert he is (that is until you give him a few shots).

Jonghyun walks over and takes a deep breath before turning the doorknob into the office. He notices that it’s not nearly as bright as the entrance, but it does have some color to it with baby blue walls, framed album artwork, and posters of idol groups. He walks in with a smile, ready to greet Jisung wherever he may be.

 

That is, until, he looks across the room and sees the face of someone who hurt him long ago. He’s currently leaning forward, looking at the computer screen of another worker, most likely giving his comments. If he wasn’t conscious of where he was, Jonghyun swears he would’ve screamed right there. The man hasn’t noticed him thankfully, but Jonghyun doesn’t really know what to do. Does he still walk in or does he leave? Does he say hello or pretend like he doesn’t remember him? He tries to tell himself that maybe the person is a doppelganger, but the more he looks at him, the more he notices the same features Jonghyun fell in love with those years ago.

The man stands up straight and before he could even make eye contact, Jonghyun is already running inside the bathroom. He runs into a stall, locking the door immediately before fumbling through his pockets to look for his phone. Jonghyun quickly dials the number that’ll answer without fail.

“Minki, Hwang Minhyun is here.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those of you who have read lets run away now, theres gonna be a decent amount of parallels if you havent noticed already??? me, no sense of creativity??? yes. LOL  
> i have a lot of fics on my plate, but ive been in a rut that i rly wanted to start fresh and write one fic that i can devote all my attention to bc i realized thats when my writing really blooms. ive talked about writing this fic to a few people but its never actually been in the works until now. given its a "with benefits" fic im rly not sure if im gonna have explicit sexual scenes here bc ive never been the type but it might be something i might try? not sure tho depends on my mood when i get to those parts HAHA


	2. leave me alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> working with your ex in the same office is physically and mentally exhausting.

“Hwang Minhyun? THE Hwang Minhyun?”

Minki yells so loud into the phone that Jonghyun has to pull it away from his ear, “Yes, THE Hwang Minhyun. Fuck, I don’t know what to do. I thought I never had to see the guy ever again, but here he is…” Jonghyun’s breath shakes, “... as my coworker.” 

“Wait, what the fuck. How could Youngmin do that to you? I knew he was back in the country, but holy shit, I’m gonna beat his ass wh ‒ ”

“You knew?” Jonghyun can’t hide the betrayal in his voice, “And you didn’t say anything?”

Minki sighs, “Look, I knew he was Dongho’s roommate, but that’s all. I never spoke to him or listened to anything Dongho had to say about him. I didn’t even know they were working in the same company. I knew there was nothing good telling you about him being back, but I feel Youngmin should’ve at least known better.”

“Minki,” Jonghyun sighs as he paces back and forth inside the tiny stall, “I don’t think we ever told Youngmin about him.” 

“What are you talking about? Of course we did,” Minki scoffs, “We told Youngmin all about our love lives, he  _ should have  _ known.”

“No,  _ you _ told Youngmin all about  _ your _ love life. When we were getting to know each other, I didn’t feel comfortable telling him about something so vulnerable like that,” Jonghyun can feel his hands shaking, “What do I do, Minki? I’m so scared, I ‒ ”

“I’ll get it done before the deadline, don’t worry about it!” the unfamiliar voice spoke with the sound of the door opening. 

“Daniel, I’m counting on you.” 

Jonghyun quickly hangs up on Minki at the sound of the second voice. He could recognize Minhyun’s voice like a needle in a haystack. It’s the voice that soothed his nerves during college, sang him lullabies when he couldn’t fall asleep. It’s been years since he last heard his voice that he thinks he’ll never be able to forget it.

He stays quiet, knowing there’s nothing good from them knowing he’s in there. It’s a little bit weird trying to eavesdrop on their conversation, but only hearing the sound of the two men peeing instead. Jonghyun can’t help but internally laugh. Once he hears flies zipping up, however, they start talking again. 

“By the way, Daniel,” Minhyun asks hesitantly, the usual stride and confidence in his voice barely evident, “Did you hear anything about the new employee?”

There’s a pause in which Jonghyun holds his breath in anticipation, “No, not really. I don’t even know his name. Why do you ask?”

Jonghyun can’t help but wonder why he’s asking too. Minhyun’s usually the type to mind his own business. Did Minhyun actually get a good glimpse of him before he ran away or is Jonghyun just overthinking?

“Mmm, just wondering. I know you’re closer to Jisung so I thought you’d have some information,” Minhyun shrugs as he washes his hands. Jonghyun hears the faucets running, one turning off way before the other. He doesn’t even have to look to know the one spending more time washing his hands is Minhyun.  _ “That damn clean freak.”  _ Jonghyun thinks to himself.

_ Ding! Ding! _

“Is that your phone?” Minhyun asks after turning off the faucet and grabbing paper towels, “I’m pretty sure I kept mine on silent.”

Jonghyun almost drops his phone at the sound of a text message. He quickly turns off his sound notifications before checking the message. It’s from Minki.

 

**Demon [9:05am]**

hey look through youngmin’s tagged instagram posts, minhyun’s in a few of them

also i’m sorry for not telling you

 

“I’m not sure,” Jonghyun can hear Daniel drying his hands on his pants. He knows it’s Daniel because Minhyun would never do such a thing, “I’ll check later. Let’s go.” 

The door shuts and Jonghyun finally feels like he can breathe. He opens Instagram and looks through Youngmin’s tagged photos as Minki told him to do. There are group pictures of the teams, marketing and graphic design, and Jonghyun immediately recognizes not only his housemate, but Jisung and Minhyun. The chic smile on Minhyun’s face in the pictures almost melts Jonghyun’s heart just like in the past. It’s so Minhyun to never smile with his teeth, even though Jonghyun used to tell him he loved his toothy grin too. 

Jonghyun hesitates whether to look through Minhyun’s Instagram as well, but he figures it’ll only hurt if he looks through it, so he closes the app and shoves his phone back into his pocket.

 

**Weeb Roommate [9:09am]**

i cant believe he’s here again… wish me luck

and i understand dont be sorry

 

He moves out of the cramped stall and to the sinks, splashing water on his face lightly. Jonghyun knows he can’t cower here forever, so he needs to build up some courage to get out there, “I can do this. I can go there and pretend like he means nothing to me.” 

Jonghyun walks out of the bathroom and into the office area like he tried before. He walks confidently, but not too confidently that it shows he’s trying too hard. Minhyun has always been able to read him like a book and he didn’t want that this time. His eyes search for Jisung and finds his room all the way in the back. He notes where Minhyun is and once Jonghyun passes his area, Jonghyun can almost feel Minhyun’s gaze burning holes on his back.

“Jonghyun, you’re here! Welcome to the graphic design department!” Jisung gives a warm hug and a big smile, “Usually, I would give you a tour of the building as it’s company policy, but I’m swamped with work right now,” Jisung peeks outside at the rest of the office, “Minhyun! Can you come here?”

Jonghyun almost flinches at the sound of his name. All he wants is to avoid Minhyun or spend as little time as he can around him, but of course, this has to happen.

“Yes, hyung?” Minhyun stands next to Jonghyun, but Jonghyun doesn’t even bat an eye towards him, mainly because he’s scared to. He knows that if he looks into his eyes at this moment, the courage he built up just a couple minutes ago will crack.

“Jonghyun here is our new employee. Can you show him here around the company? You’re on top of your work today, right? You can spare some time?”

Jonghyun knows Minhyun is going to agree, whether he’s busy or not. He knows Minhyun that Minhyun is never the type to say no, but he wishes that Minhyun has changed as a person and will refuse to be around his ex-boyfriend after years of not talking. 

“Yes, of course. Follow me,” Minhyun tries to make eye contact with Jonghyun once again, but gets denied. He turns around and sighs, walking ahead and just hoping that Jonghyun is actually following him. 

  
  


The atmosphere outside the office is actually quieter than Jonghyun had expected. Maybe it’s because it’s the start of the day and everyone is inside their respective rooms that hardly anyone is outside. The only sounds he can hear are soft whispers and shoes clacking on the floor. Jonghyun is usually a fan of silence, but at this moment, it’s killing him. 

“Right here is the company gym. Trainees usually use it, but all employees have acce ‒  hey, are you even listening to me?” Minhyun looks back and sees Jonghyun looking off to the side originally. With the switch in subject, Jonghyun looks back at him and makes eye contact, but the moment quickly fades as he’s back to looking at anywhere else.

“Yeah, just keep talking or whatever,” Jonghyun tries (and fails) to say in the nicest tone possible, “The sooner we get this over with, the better.” 

Minhyun stops walking and sighs, “Look, Jju-yah, I ‒ ”

Jonghyun’s heart aches at the nickname that he has to seriously hold himself back from making a scene. It was the cute nickname that originated when Minhyun used to jokingly call Jonghyun by his gamer alias, JR. Saying JR-ah multiple times quickly turned into Jju-yah, which Minhyun thought was pretty cute, so he used Jju-yah endearingly instead. 

“It’s Jonghyun,” Jonghyun grits through his teeth as he glares at Minhyun, “You have no right to call me  _ that _ anymore.”

“Okay,  _ Jonghyun _ , can we just talk? I know this is a little weird and I know both of us never expected to see the other here, b--”

“Yeah, you know, I thought you were in Japan,” Jonghyun snarks, the attitude in his voice evident. 

“Jonghyun! Can you chill? Can’t we just patch things up since we’ll be working together?” Minhyun exasperates, his nice and gentle front long gone, “It would be easier for us if we’d be friends from now on.”

He almost can’t believe his ears. Minhyun wants to be  _ friends _ after all they’ve been through, all the pain Jonghyun had to experience. Jonghyun stares at Minhyun with daggers in his eyes and scoffs, “Here’s the thing. I don’t want to?” He shrugs with a small smirk on his face, “We can be co-workers or whatever  ‒ well, we have to  ‒ but I would rather spend the  _ least  _ amount of time with you as I possibly can. Do you understand me?” 

Minhyun can’t hide the hurt in his face and Jonghyun clearly sees it. The tone in Jonghyun’s voice vividly reminds him of the day they broke up and he hates it, “I mean, if that’s what you want then I really can’t say no.”

“Good.”

  
  


After an excruciating half an hour of walking around the building, they finally come back to the office. Once making things clear of where they stand, Jonghyun did pay attention to Minhyun’s little tour, but it was still uncomfortable for him and he hated it.

There is a cubicle waiting for him when they come back and Jonghyun gets exciting looking at the expensive equipment. Not much of a drawer, Jonghyun didn’t really need the drawpad, but looking through the desktop and the many programs almost made him drool. There are lines and lines of different fonts he can use, different photoshop features, and several programs that he only dreamed of before using, but never had the means to buy them. It would take him a while to get acquainted with everything, but he found his heart fluttering in excitement. 

Jisung gave him time to settle in with everything before assigning him with his first project and he is beyond grateful, but as much as his passions are at full drive, Jonghyun can’t help but look over at Minhyun’s desk occasionally. He finds out Minhyun is second in charge, after Jisung of course, his desk being closer to the back as well. 

The memories came back to him as he watches Minhyun, his eyes focused onto the screen. Being in the same major at the same university, Minhyun and Jonghyun always had the same classes. Their major was very small, the school only accepting a handful amount of people every year, so everyone knew each other and everyone recognized that Minhyun was the best in their class. 

Jonghyun used to get distracted whenever they worked together because he would just be in awe at how handsome Minhyun looked whenever he worked. Yes, there were times where they stayed up late into the night and Minhyun’s eye bags were dark and heavy and his hair hadn’t been washed in a solid week, but it was more than just his typical physical features that amazed Jonghyun, but it was how passionate Minhyun looked. The glare Minhyun gave his screen whenever he was working was charming. The smirk Minhyun expressed whenever he was working on a tricky area was almost heart fluttering. Despite Jonghyun’s stares, Minhyun would never even budge to look at him because he was just so focused. Jonghyun was never insecure that he actually really liked the fact that Minhyun’s attention was all towards his work. A passionate working man is always hot.

“Uhm, Jonghyun, right?”

Quickly snapping out of it, Jonghyun looks behind him to see a handsome looking man with light brown hair. From his voice, he knows that this is Daniel, but he shouldn’t know that.

“Yes, that’s me, Kim Jonghyun! What’s your name?” Jonghyun flashes a soft smile as first impressions are always important.

“I’m Kang Daniel. It’s nice to meet you!” the enthusiasm in Daniel’s voice lifts Jonghyun’s mood, “How old are you if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I’m 27, how about you?”

Daniel’s mouth shapes to form a small ‘o’, “You look younger! I’m 26, but you and Minhyun hyung are the same age!” 

_ “Of course we are, we went to college together,”  _ Jonghyun wants to say, but he nods enthusiastically instead, “Oh, that’s nice to know.” 

“Can I call you hyung too?” Daniel’s eyes sparkle.

Jonghyun can’t help but think the younger is pretty adorable, “Yes, of course!” his head tilts, “Uhm, is there any other reason why you came over here?” 

“Uhhh, I feel like there was another reason, but I forgot,” Daniel hums in thought, “Oh! Usually, when we have new people we eat _all_ _together_ in the cafeteria so save your lunch time for us.” 

The words “all together” don’t sit well with Jonghyun. Even though there will be other people besides Minhyun, he feels like he’s spent enough time with him for the day that his emotions can handle, “Sorry, Daniel. Maybe tomorrow or something like that? I promised Youngmin from marketing I would treat him out for lunch today.” Jonghyun gives himself a mental high five for lying smoothly. 

“Oh? Youngmin hyung? You two know each other?” Daniel says just a little bit louder than indoor volume. 

“Yeah, we live together!” 

Daniel’s eyebrows raise and his expression goes shocked, “Live together? Are you guys dating or something?” His volume is even higher and Jonghyun notices as they’ve gotten the attention of the entire office, including Minhyun. It’s kind of silly, Jonghyun thinks, that Daniel would automatically assume that they’re dating just because they live together, but does he want to go along with it for the hell of it? Maybe so. 

“Well, I ‒ ”

“Daniel! With that kind of assumption, does that mean me and Dongho are dating too?” Minhyun laughs from across the room, “Stop bothering the new guy and do your work.” 

“Well, okay, you can’t blame me for wanting some juicy gossip when our department is so dull,” Daniel groans as he walks back to his desk, not even letting Jonghyun speak for himself. 

Jonghyun sits there, confused as Daniel and Minhyun are already back to work. He doesn’t realize until a moment too late that Minhyun had no right to enter the conversation. No one asked for his opinion. He didn’t need to tell Daniel to stop bothering him either. Jonghyun looks back over at Minhyun, making eye contact for a brief moment before looking away.

It’s better for Jonghyun if he just stays focused on work, but first he has to text Youngmin.

 

**Bugi [11:02am]**

hey u wanna go out for lunch ill treat

**Alpaca [11:03am]**

mmm but the menu today at the cafeteria looks p good :((

but since ur treating then sure 

**Bugi [11:05am]**

cool just come by whenever u go on lunch break

 

An hour later, Youngmin comes prancing into the graphic design office. Everyone being unphased makes Jonghyun think that this is usual Youngmin behavior. At the apartment, Youngmin acts free spirited all the time, but Jonghyun expected him to be different at work, but he guesses not. 

“Jonghyunnie, let’s go eat! I’m hungry!” Youngmin says cutely as he lightly shakes Jonghyun’s seat. 

Unless Jonghyun has to kiss Youngmin’s ass, he usually pushes off the other’s flirtiness, but he can’t help but notice Minhyun’s attention towards the two of them that he decides to play along. 

“Okay, let's go, Youngminnie,” Jonghyun shines a bright smile as he gets up out of his seat. He links arms with Youngmin to quickly drag him out of the office. 

Once out of the office, he unlinks and sighs in relief. Youngmin looks completely unphased, but that’s expected of him as he loves when Jonghyun reciprocates even the slightest. “So where do you want to eat?” 

“Not sure,” Youngmin shrugs as they walk through the building, “Why didn’t you just want to eat at the cafeteria? I know it sounds like it’d be bad but it’s pretty good.”

Jonghyun chuckles as he smacks his friend on the back, “Be grateful! The cafeteria will always be here but my offer to treat you out won’t.” 

Youngmin smiles, “You’re right. Thank you, Jonghyunnie.” 

 

The lunch goes by quickly. Youngmin ends up picking cold noodles for the hot weather. Jonghyun considers telling Youngmin about Minhyun, but he decides it’ll be better if he talks about it with Minki for emotional support. He realizes that he hasn’t told this story of his life in years. 

They simply chit chat the whole time all the way, even as they come back to work. 

“Niel-ah, you’re so funny.” 

Shivers run down Jonghyun’s spine as he hears Minhyun’s voice and usual hearty laugh from right behind him. Jonghyun doesn’t know what stirs his want to make Minhyun potentially jealous, but he does it anyway. 

“I hope I didn’t bother you today, Youngminnie,” Jonghyun moves a bit closer to the other with a warm smile.

“No of course not! Thanks for lunch. I look forward to spending more time with you.” 

“Yeah, no problem. I can’t wait either,” Jonghyun’s hand grazes Youngmin’s arm casually. 

They reach their respective offices and Youngmin gives Jonghyun his usual wink before leaving. As Jonghyun enters the office with Minhyun and Daniel following him, he can’t help but notice how quiet his ex-boyfriend is. 

He loves feeling this power.

  
  


“You’ll never guess what happened at work today,” Minhyun sighs as he hears Dongho enter their room. He’s been waiting for Dongho to come to tell him. With his roommate’s job as a music producer, the times he comes home vary but lately it’s been late but not too late.  

Dongho squints at Minhyun after taking off his bag, “You finally got fired, huh? I knew this was going to happen eventually. I told you no one likes a goo--”

“No, shut up. Oh my god, you’re so annoying,” Minhyun glares at his roommate for a moment before the inevitable sigh, “It’s not that…” he looks off to the distance with an unreadable look to his face, “Jonghyun’s working in my department now.” 

“Oh,” Dongho shrugs, “Well, I mean, that’s not the most surprising thing ever.”

“What do you mean? I thought after we broke up I would never see him again,” Minhyun groans as he rubs his face, “He was so rude to me too? I was in shock with how much attitude he had.”

Dongho laughs, “If anything, shouldn’t he be the one surprised to see you? You’re the one who suddenly left the country.”

“I know,” Minhyun sighs once more as he looks at his friend, “It just still surprised me how mean he was because usually he’s nice to everyone.” 

“I don’t know why you’re getting hung up about it,” Dongho raises a brow, “are you planning on fucking him or something?”

Minhyun grabs a pillow and throws it at his roommate, “No! Shut the fuck up! Not everything is about sex!” 

The other shrugs with a smirk on his face, “I mean I told you that when Minki and I were something, the sex was pretty great since we had been together before.” 

“Oh yeah? And how did that pan out in the end?” Minhyun glares at Dongho, only for him to go quiet. Dongho’s facial expression completely changes as he looks to the floor.

“Hey, that was uncalled for.” 

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Minhyun purses his lips, “Well, anyway I  _ think _ he’s dating someone anyway. Remember Youngmin from marketing?” 

“Huh, that’s an interesting pair,” Dongho snaps out of his split-second sad mood and rummages through his closet for fresh clothes, “Does Youngmin know you two used to date?” 

Minhyun shakes his head, “Unless Jonghyun told Youngmin, then no, not that I know of. No one knows because I didn’t think they would need to know.”

“Well, I don’t think it does you any good to be thinking about his love life,” Dongho enters the bathroom, but quickly peeks out, “Oh, also before I forget, Daniel found a new roommate and he’s moving in tomorrow.” 

“I just hope he isn’t as much of a mess as the last one,” Minhyun rolls his eyes, “I feel like I yelled at the guy almost every day.”

“Of course that’s your response,” Dongho laughs, “Good night.”

“Good night.”

Minhyun delves into his blankets, expecting a good night sleep after a long day, but he finds himself constantly tossing and turning. He usually falls asleep relatively easily, but tonight his body can’t relax and his thoughts are all over the place. 

He can’t stop thinking about Jonghyun.

  
  
  


“I’m thinking about quitting,” Jonghyun brings up as the three are sitting side by side on the couch, the order being Minki, Youngmin, and Jonghyun. They’re watching some TV show that Jonghyun stopped paying attention to as his thoughts were all over the place.

“Wait, what the fuck, Jonghyun? Youngmin turns off the TV to look at Jonghyun, “Are you serious right now? It’s been  _ one  _ day.” 

Minki turns to Youngmin, “Wait, so you really don’t know?”

“Don’t know what?” Youngmin looks at Jonghyun and Minki in confusion, “Did something happen?”

Jonghyun takes a deep breath in and out, “Minhyun is my ex-boyfriend from college. Before today, I hadn’t seen him since the day we broke up.” 

Youngmin’s eyes immediately widen, “Ohhhhh, so  _ that’s _ why you were being flirty with me today? You used me to make him jealous, huh?” 

Minki looks over at the two of them, “YOU DID WHAT.”

“I don’t know what got ahead of me, okay,” Jonghyun sighs, his hands in his hair in frustration, “Daniel suddenly had the thought that we were dating and Minhyun looked curious so I just wanted to show him that I’m okay without that asshole.” 

“That’s my best friend!” Minki holds up his hand for a high five and Jonghyun reciprocates, “See? Just continue doing this and you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, but,” Jonghyun breathes deeply, “I felt the need to act like everything’s okay and it’s just  _ so _ mentally and emotionally exhausting. I don’t think I can do this  _ every _ fucking day.” 

Youngmin holds Jonghyun’s hand, “What did Minhyun even do?” 

“I’m sorry, Youngmin,” Jonghyun looks up to the ceiling and sighs, “I really don’t think I can talk about the whole thing today. I’m so emotionally distraught that I’ll just tell you that it has to do with him going to Japan. I don’t know if it’s known in the office that he spent some time there, but yeah.” 

“Ah, yeah. When he first entered the company, he told a lot of stories of his time there,” Youngmin purses his lips, “Whenever you feel comfortable telling me about the whole thing, no rush at all, just let me know.”

“Thank you for understanding,” Jonghyun softly smiles at Youngmin, “But yeah, I think it’s best for me to quit. Maybe I can go back home and work at my parent’s place a ‒ ”

“No,” Minki’s voice is firm as he glares at Jonghyun, “There is no way in hell that I’m letting you leave me again like this.” 

“AGAIN?” Youngmin looks at both Minki and Jonghyun, “You guys really don’t tell me anything, huh?” 

Minki sighs, “Sorry, Youngmin. This is  _ also _ another story for later,” he then looks at Jonghyun, “I’m not going to let you just retreat because of some stupid guy. You’re stronger than this, Jonghyun. I know you. You can do this and you can show Minhyun that you’re so much better without him.”

A tear falls from Jonghyun’s face, “Thanks, Minki, but I just don’t know. I’m so physically and mentally exhausted. I think I’m just going to go to bed and think about this later, okay?”

His housemates simply nod and watch Jonghyun head into the room. They sit in silence because obviously they’re worried, but they also don’t even know what’s best for Jonghyun right now. He looks absolutely miserable but at the same time he can’t continue running away from his fears. Minki and Youngmin both acknowledge this and eventually head to bed too.

  
  


Jonghyun finds himself going to work the next day. Youngmin doesn’t mention anything about last night’s discussion other than “I’ll come to your office for lunch and going home every day until you don’t want me to if that helps.” In response, Jonghyun gives a soft smile and nods. 

The new worker gets his first assignment which is the album photobook of an upcoming comeback of a certain boy group. He’s (thankfully) assigned to work on it with Hyunbin, someone he hasn’t even spoken too but anyone is better than Minhyun. 

Halfway through the workday, Jisung calls for everyone’s attention, “Hey, guys. I have an announcement to make,” he waits for everyone to stop what they’re doing, “So, the party we were going to have this Friday cannot be held at my apartment.”

“Wow, Jisung hyung, does someone have a cockroach problem?” Daniel jokes with a huge laugh.

“Or is it termites? Bed bugs?” Hyunbin adds along.

Jisung glares at both of them, “My parents are visiting the next day and if the apartment smells like alcohol, I’m going to get nagged at for not being married yet or something like that,” he sighs, “Well, unless we have it at someone else’s place, it’s cancelled.”

Daniel quickly raises his hand, “We can have it at my place!” 

“Nice, thank you, Daniel,” Jisung grins, shooting finger guns at him, “Just to note,  _ everyone  _ is invited and it would be great team bonding if  _ everyone  _ comes. Okay, now get back to work.” 

Hyunbin rolls his chair over to Jonghyun’s desk, “You’re going Friday, right?” 

Jonghyun almost jumps at Hyunbin’s sudden appearance, “Maybe? I don’t know. Is it with the marketing department?” 

“Of course it is!” Hyunbin grins, “We’re basically one department because of how often we have get togethers.” 

“Mmm,” he nods, “Okay, if Youngmin goes, I’ll go.” 

Hyunbin laughs, “Of course that bitch is going. He never shies away from this type of stuff,” he pushes his chair with his foot to move him back to his desk, “Can’t wait to drink with you!” 

Jonghyun grabs his phone from inside his desk and immediately texts Youngmin.

 

**Bugi [10:22am]**

are u going to the party thing on friday

**Alpaca [10:25am]**

ya ofc why??

**Bugi [10:30am]**

im not sure whether i should go

**Alpaca [10:34am]**

dude no u have to!!! its a good way to befriend coworkers and the parties are always tons of fun 

**Bugi [10:36am]**

okay im going… but only bc ur going 

 

“Jonghyun.” 

Startled by the sudden call of his name, he jumps in his seat only to see Minhyun standing right next to him. He calms himself down and tries his best to act normal, “Yes?” 

“We’re all gonna head out and eat soon, you want to join us?” 

“No, I’m okay,” Jonghyun doesn’t even hesitate to reject his offer, turning back around to his computer, “You guys can go on ahead. I have some things to finish up.” 

He expects Minhyun to agree and leave, but he stays still, “You can wait to finish that after lunch.” 

Jonghyun can feel himself getting upset. Why isn’t this guy just taking no for an answer? Why does he have to be persistent to hang out with his ex-boyfriend? “I’m sorry, but I would rather not.” 

“You need to get to know your co-workers, but fine by me. If that’s what you want, what am I to say,” Minhyun’s voice is quiet, but the sass is clear to Jonghyun’s ears that if he could, he would have smacked him in the face right then and there. 

He turns around and glares at his ex-boyfriend, “I can get to know them at the party, now leave me alone,” he looks back to his computer, hoping that Minhyun would just go away.

“Oh? You’re going?” Minhyun scoffs, leaning close to Jonghyun to whisper in his ear, “If you’re the same person as years ago, I suggest you not be the messy drunk you usually are because I won’t be the one to clean up after you.”

Before Jonghyun can even say a word back, Minhyun is already walking out of the office. Jonghyun can feel the steam coming out of his ears in anger. How dare he say that to him? Minhyun leaves his life for years and he has the audacity to act like he still knows him. Everyone has already left for their lunch break, so Jonghyun slams his fist on his desk, the stuff on top of it, jumping up just a bit. He doesn’t know how he’s going to make Minhyun regret what he said, but he will. 

 

\-------------

 

After a long day of work, Minhyun comes back home exhausted. His conversation with Jonghyun replays in his head and he knows he maybe shouldn’t have said that last statement, but what could he do when he was just getting so upset with how stubborn Jonghyun was being? He wanted to be at least friendly with each other, but Jonghyun couldn’t even give him that. 

As he takes off his shoes, he notices that the hallway is a mess. Before he left to work today, he’s pretty sure it wasn’t that messy. With Dongho being busy with work, it must be Daniel’s fault. “Yah, Kang Daniel, clean up after yourself, please.”

“Sorry about that I’ll clean up as soon as I’m done.”

Minhyun furrows his eyebrows in confusion as that was not Daniel’s voice. He walks out of the hallway and he sees a dark brown haired boy, running towards Minhyun. The boy looks younger than Minhyun, and he’s quite adorable, “Uhm, who are you?” 

The boy holds out his hand to shake, “My name’s Kim Donghyun. I’m Daniel’s new roommate and your new housemate. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

“Nice to meet you, Kim Donghyun,” Minhyun shakes his hand firmly with a warm smile, “I’m Hwang Minhyun. Do you need any help?” 

Donghyun shakes his head, “Nope. I’m just about done. I just need to clean up a bit.”

“Then I’ll let you be. Let me know if you need anything,” Minhyun walks to his room and he can’t help be happy with Daniel’s choice of a roommate.

Donghyun finishes cleaning up and heads back into his new room, laying on his bed immediately. His thoughts wander but it’s out of pure excitement, “Welcome back to Seoul, Kim Donghyun.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh i was gonna explain 2hyun's background story, but i feel like it'd be better for later, but for now i gave some hints to what happened so that'll be it for now hehe. next chapter will be the party, and if you know anything about my writing you know, alcohol = mess so itll be fun :)


	3. coincidences, huh.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> alcohol and uncanny coincidences lead to horrible times.

 

The rest of the week is a bit dull. Jonghyun and Hyunbin work together on the album photobook. Youngmin and Jonghyun eat together the whole week, still acting flirty to make Minhyun uncomfortable because oh, was he looking uncomfortable when he walked into the office and only saw Jonghyun and Youngmin together. Minhyun still tries talking to Jonghyun whenever he can and whenever Youngmin isn’t around, but after his last comment, Jonghyun shuts him down every time. He uses the dumbest excuses too on purpose, just so Minhyun knows that he really doesn’t want to talk to him. 

Friday quickly rolls around and Youngmin tells Jonghyun he’s going to come the party a bit late because he’s meeting with some family friends suddenly. Jonghyun tells Youngmin he’ll just wait for him then, but Youngmin insists he goes first because he’s not sure how long it’ll take and he wants Jonghyun to have fun with the teams. 

This leads to Jonghyun dragging Minki to the party with the consent of his co-workers of course. With telling his housemates what Minhyun had said to him, Minki decides he’ll be Jonghyun’s designated driver and take care of him. They decide to come an hour late, well, more like Minki does as it takes him forever to find Jonghyun the right outfit. (“I’ll just wear whatever! It doesn’t matter!” “No, shut up bitch. You need to look hot!”)

“You’ll drive there and I’ll drive back, sounds good?” 

“Fine, lazyass.” Jonghyun grabs the car keys near the front door after putting on his shoes and heads out with his roommate. 

“Hey, I don’t have to go, but I’m going for you because I’m a  _ nice  _ person and a  _ great _ best friend if I say so myself.” Minki shines the most sarcastic smile and Jonghyun would punch him if he could. 

“Yeah, whatever. You just have nothing better to do this Friday night,” Jonghyun rolls his eyes as he enters the driver’s seat of his car, “You’re not getting a compliment out of me.”

“Hey, uh, I forgot my wallet. I’ll be back,” Minki notifies before running back into the apartment. Jonghyun shrugs, knowing it’s typical Minki to forget something before leaving the house. He puts in the address to Daniel’s place in his phone,  which the younger sent in the group chat, and lets the car run for a bit, knowing Minki won’t take too long. 

“Sorry about that,” Minki hops into the passenger seat and grins. Jonghyun starts driving and it’s just the sound of the music playing and the hum of the engine for a bit. 

“Hey, so when we get there,” Minki lowers the volume on the music as he starts talking, “Can I beat up Minhyun for you? I can probably use his big head as a punching bag.” 

Jonghyun rolls his eyes, “No, you can’t. He’s still my co-worker.”

“But that was gonna be the only joy of going to this thing!” Minki huffs as he crosses his arms, “I can’t drink. I can’t beat up Minhyun. What can I even do?”

The driver shrugs, his eyes glued to the road, “I don’t know, maybe you can find a cute guy there.” 

“Please, I saw Youngmin’s tagged pictures. There was no guy that caught my attention.” 

“You never know, Choi Minki,” Jonghyun hums lightly with a smile on his face, “I’m just excited to drink tonight.” 

“Just please, I beg of you,” Minki groans as he looks at the other, “Don’t go too wild.” 

“I can’t promise you anything and you know that.”

Jonghyun pulls into the parking garage of Daniel’s place. It’s one of the nicer apartment complexes in the city. He quickly finds a parking spot and is about to hop out of the car when he sees Minki completely frozen in his seat.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jonghyun places a hand on Minki’s shoulder and shakes him gently. 

“Whose place did you say this was? Minhyun’s?” his voice is hesitant, obviously distraught.

“No, I wouldn’t bring you here if it was Minhyun’s place. It’s someone else from the office. Don’t worry, let’s just go.” 

Minki nods and gets out of the car, taking deep breaths as he walks out with Jonghyun to the elevator, “I’m sorry. It’s just this is all too familiar with Dongho’s place, but maybe I’m wrong.” 

Jonghyun nods, unsure what to say. During the second time where Minki and Dongho were together, he didn’t really pay attention to anything. He never had to pick up Minki from his place or asked where he was living. He didn’t even speak to Dongho because Minki never brought him home since he was always at his place. It makes him feel a little bit bad, wishing that he could’ve paid more attention to the whole situation, but it’s over with. 

Memorizing Daniel’s apartment number, Jonghyun leads the way, ringing the doorbell immediately. 

“Jonghyun… what’s the name of this co-worker of yours?” the hesitation in Minki’s voice more evident than the last time.

“Kang Daniel, he’s a nice guy,” Jonghyun shrugs off, but as he turns to look at Minki, he sees the clear pain in his face, something that is a rare occurrence.

“Dude… Daniel is D‒”

“HELLOOOO,” the door to the apartment bursts open with an already tipsy Yoon Jisung. He immediately places a beer bottle in Jonghyun’s hands and pulls him and Minki inside, “Welcome to the party!” with a huge grin, he looks at Minki, “You must be Jonghyun’s plus one! What’s your name?” 

Minki forcedly smiles, “Choi Minki.”

“Well, Mr. Choi Minki,” Jisung giggles, “I’m going to steal Jonghyun for a bit to introduce him to some people. You can have him back afterwards. Make yourself feel at home!” 

Jisung drags Jonghyun, who is already halfway done with his beer, to the living room, leaving Minki standing there. He wants to leave badly. The hallway to the living room is already bringing back memories of his time with Dongho that it pains his heart. However, leaving Jonghyun at this party with his ex-boyfriend and no one else he can trust doesn’t sound like an option. He’ll just stay until Youngmin comes back from whatever he has to do.

It’ll be okay. He’ll be fine. 

  
  


“This is Ha Sungwoon. He’s short, but he’s spicy!” Jisung giggles as he makes the two shake hands.

“You damn lightweight,” Sungwoon glares at Jisung for his description before smiling at the new acquaintance, “Ha Sungwoon. Head of the marketing department. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Jonghyun bows politely, “I’m Kim Jonghyun, the newest member of the graphic design department. It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.” 

“Since we’re meeting like this, don’t force yourself to be too formal. It’s a party so just relax,” Sungwoon pats the back of Jonghyun’s hand before letting go. Jonghyun nods and before he can even think of what to say, he’s whisked off by Jisung to meet someone else. 

“Aron! This is the new guy!” Jisung taps the man on the shoulder as he’s facing the other way, watching whatever is playing on TV.

The man turns around and holds out his hand, “Hey, I’m Kwak Aron. I’m one of the senior marketing members. It’s nice to meet you.” 

Jonghyun shakes the other’s hand and grins, “I’m Kim Jonghyun, the newest member of the graphic design department.” 

They awkwardly smile at each other, unsure what to say. Jonghyun tries to think of maybe some English to say as Aron obviously sounds like an American name, but he already missed his chance to introduce himself as Thomas Kim. Jonghyun finishes his beer right after and Jisung is quick to notice that he pulling Jonghyun out of the awkward situation and into the kitchen, handing him another bottle. 

“There you are, Seongwoo! Here, you drink more too,” Jisung hands the man a bottle, who came into the kitchen for snacks, “By the way, this is Jonghyun.” 

“Oh! Hello!” he perks up with a grin, “You’re the one who’s been stealing Youngmin this entire week! I’m Ong Seongwoo, marketing department if you didn’t know. Youngmin and I actually entered the company at the same time, so he’s a good friend of mine. Where is he, by the way?”

“I’m Kim Jonghyun, graphic design,” Jonghyun can feel his hands getting sweaty after meeting all these people, “He’s meeting with some family friends. He’ll be here once he’s done.”

There’s a few more people that Jonghyun gets introduced too afterwards, but it becomes a bit of a blur. Noh Taehyun, Kim Sanggyun, Kim Donghan, there is a foreigner or two in the mix too, but Jonghyun can’t seem to remember their names. By the time Jisung releases him from his grasp, Jonghyun has had 3½ beers in his system and a confused brain. He walks over to Minki, who is leaning on the kitchen counter sipping water alone. 

“I hate meeting new people,” Jonghyun groans, leaning against the counter as well. “I just want to go home and play video games like every other Friday night.”

Minki can’t help but chuckle, “I know you do, but you’ll be fine.”

“I can only hope so,” he sighs, looking at everyone around him. It’s his first time getting to freely look at the place itself since Jisung was non stop dragging him around. The lights are dimmed a bit and the overall apartment is quite spacious. Only twenty or so people are inside, but there’s people spread out over in the living room, a crowd of people around the booze table, and some people on the upper floor. Daniel really must be rich to afford such a luxurious apartment, since Jonghyun knows how much their salary is. He also notices that he hasn’t seen Minhyun once, but that’s probably for the best, “Why don’t you go and meet people?” 

“No, it’s okay. I need to watch out for you,” Minki lies, knowing that he’s not talking to anyone because of his mixed emotions. He should just tell Jonghyun, but he doesn’t want to kill his mood. Minki knows if he mentions his uneasiness about Dongho, Jonghyun is just going to use it as an excuse to go home and he doesn’t want that, “Now go out there and talk to your co-workers. Don’t stay with boring me.” 

Jonghyun frowns, knowing there’s something wrong, but with the look of Minki’s face and his forced smile, he knows he won’t be able to say no, “Okay, fine. If you need anything just let me know,” he begins to walk away, but he turns to look at Minki beforehand, “By the way, thank you for being such a good friend.”

“No problem,” Minki shines his smile, but as soon as Jonghyun leaves he sighs once again, “When will Youngmin get here?”

  
  
  


Walking back into the living room, he makes eye contact with Minhyun for the first time that night. He can’t help but think he jinxed himself. Not wanting to talk to him, he quickly walks the opposite way, but he can hear Minhyun call for him.

“Jonghyun hyung! Take a shot with me!” Hyunbin yells as he spots Jonghyun. The older can’t help but thank the universe for catching him at the right moment and he agrees immediately. 

If he’s honest, Jonghyun isn’t the biggest fan of shots. He would rather drink a couple beers or a few glasses of wine, which is surprising for someone who is categorized as “messy,” but it’s only because one way or another, he finds himself drinking shots. Just like today, only drinking shots to avoid his ex-boyfriend and maybe also his emotions.

After taking a shot with Hyunbin, Daniel comes by his side and smiles at Jonghyun, “Me too! Take a shot with me, hyung!” 

Jonghyun can’t refuse Daniel’s enthusiasm so he takes another shot, which turns into two or three more.  Minki’s words of not getting too wild are fleeting his mind. He decides to take a step back to the edge of the room for a breather and Daniel follows him out. 

“If you feel like you’re going to throw up, you can use my bathroom,” Daniel rubs Jonghyun’s back, but the older moves his hand away.

“I’m okay, don’t worry,” Jonghyun looks to his left and sees someone unfamiliar sitting alone. Even though he’s forgotten a good amount of the names of the people he met, he is pretty sure he hasn’t met this person, “By the way, who’s that guy? I don’t think I’ve met him yet.” 

“Oh, that’s my new roommate. I told him he can join us because it would be weird if he couldn’t. He doesn’t work at the company though, but I think he’s looking for a job still. Let me call him over and introduce you two.” 

Jonghyun internally groans at the thought of meeting  _ another _ person and knowing it’s his fault. Daniel comes back and Jonghyun notices the bright smile of the dark brown haired boy, “Jonghyun hyung, this is Kim Donghyun.”

His name rings a bell in Jonghyun’s head, but with the alcohol in his system and his bad memory, he doesn’t think much about it, “Hey, nice to meet you. Where are you from?” 

“I’m from around here originally, but I went to university in Busan,” Donghyun tries to think of something to continue the conversation, but he comes up with nothing so the atmosphere gets a bit awkward.

“Oh, Jonghyun hyung, I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Daniel nudges the older, “Where’s Youngmin hyung? I thought he would be coming here with you, since you guys are da‒”

“He’s out with family friends,” Jonghyun cuts off Daniel, not wanting to hear him finish the rest of the sentence as he has an idea what it was going to be, “He’ll be here later, I think.” 

“Can’t wait. Youngmin hyung is always fun to drink with,” The younger looks to everyone else, noticing Jisung stumbling around, “Well, let’s go back with the others It looks like Jisung is just about at his limit and I want to see him crash.” 

“Okay sure,” Jonghyun laughs at Daniel’s reasoning, looking to Donghyun, “You wanna join?” 

Donghyun shakes his head immediately, “No, I’m okay. You guys have fun.”

“Suit yourself.”

The two walk back into the alcohol crowd (which has gotten bigger as everyone is trying to kill Jisung with alcohol) and Donghyun leans against the wall, finishing the rest of his beer. They didn’t notice it, but Donghyun’s interest peaked at the mention of a Youngmin, but he’s sure it’s not the one he’s thinking of. The Youngmin he knows doesn’t have any family friends around here since he is originally from Busan. 

  
  


Entering the crowd, Jonghyun loses Daniel as he gets pulled away by who he thinks is Seongwoo. Sungwoon, who he can only remember because of how Jisung mentioned his height, pulls him to take a shot with him. According to the older, Jonghyun was supposed to take a shot with everyone in the party as initiation. Because he came late, he most likely won’t get to everyone, but he should still try to get to everyone if he can. 

After being pushed away from Sungwoon to find other people, he walks around to find Daniel, hoping he can come with him to talk to the people he’s barely met to take a shot with him. 

“Ooof, I’m sorry,” Jonghyun immediately apologizes as he accidentally bumps into someone.

“Watch where you’re going,” the person is voice is low with a bitter tone, scoffing at Jonghyun. He doesn’t even bother to turn around, which catches the other off guard. The man is all too familiar to him, but not seeing his face, the lights being a bit too dim for Jonghyun to distinguish his back, and only smelling his reek of alcohol makes him think his assumptions are wrong. 

Dongho isn’t a drinker, that couldn’t have been him. 

  
  
  


It’s true, Dongho isn’t usually a drinker. 

He’s tried it a decent amount of times before, but he just doesn’t like the taste of alcohol nor its aftereffects. It’s weird to him that people don’t want to be in control of their actions or their memory. Seeing people drunk and act stupid is one of Dongho’s favorite pastimes, which is why he agreed and is at this party in the first place. Because they work in the same company, Dongho is also familiar with everyone there, so recording his co-workers seems like it’ll be as far as it goes for him tonight.

However, when he unexpectedly sees Choi Minki walk into his apartment, he understands why people he drink, grabbing whatever liquor closest to him and putting into his system, the warmth lingering in his throat just as he remembers from the times he has tried it. He doesn’t stop at one, but he keeps going because he wants to be distracted so he doesn’t find himself looking at someone he can’t have. 

Everyone around him is thoroughly surprised seeing him drink, knowing he isn’t the type. Daniel is more than pleased seeing Dongho drink though as he is usually frustrated that his two housemates never want to drink with him. He ends up hyping up Dongho to drink more and more, despite Minhyun’s pleas to stop. 

Everything becomes blurry and his legs can’t walk properly. He doesn’t even remember how many shots he’s had by the time he bumps into Jonghyun. Whenever Dongho got close to him previously at the party, he avoided him quickly, knowing Jonghyun is also too oblivious (especially with alcohol) to notice his presence. Initially, Dongho wants to yell at Jonghyun and curse at him for several reasons. He’s mad at him for bring Minki here, for disagreeing of their relationship both times. Jonghyun never said anything to his face, but Dongho isn’t stupid. He’s noticed the glares Jonghyun has given him since day one, which is why he refused to come inside Minki’s apartment the second time they were together. 

But also, Dongho wants Jonghyun out of his apartment and away from Minhyun. He’s vaguely noticed Minhyun trying to get Jonghyun’s attention throughout the party and it makes him mad that Minhyun is trying to put himself into his life again, when they were better off without each other.

Dongho was really going to yell at Jonghyun, but when he looks straight ahead and sees Minki, who looks more than attractive, he realizes he would rather save his breath. He moves through the living room and makes eye contact with his ex-boyfriend once he gets closer. Minki isn’t even doing much as he’s just only his phone anyway, he wouldn’t mind some company Dongho tells himself. Not thinking with his brain anymore, his common sense is out the window.

“Minki,” he coos as he gets close, “I missed you.” 

Minki puts his phone in his pocket but doesn’t make eye contact, looking for Jonghyun to help him or maybe even Minhyun, but not a single person is paying attention as Hyunbin is standing on the table dangerously. 

“Leave me alone, Dongho,” he grits through his teeth as he tries to back away, but every step back he takes, Dongho takes a step forward. 

“I’m sorry for everything, Minki,” Dongho frowns, tears welling up in his eyes just a bit, “Please, just come here.” 

He looks at Dongho hesitantly, knowing he should just stay away from his ex-boyfriend, but fuck, Dongho has always been so tempting and he hates the bitterness in his heart that he steps a bit closer. Maybe they can reconcile and be friendly, he thinks. 

“Why are you drunk? You don’t usually drink,” Minki bites his lower lip, but receiving a bright smile from Dongho.

“It’s because I saw you, silly,” he steps closer, but Minki doesn’t move back this time. He grabs his hand and holds it gently, bringing it to his face and kissing the back of his hand softly, “I really missed you, baby.” 

Minki can feel his walls crumbling that I worked so hard the past three months to build up. The gentle hold of his hand and the soft lips pressed on the back of his hand is all too familiar to him. He feels as his heart wants to give in, but he knows that he shouldn’t.

“Dongho, please. You’re drunk, stop,” his voice falters as he looks into his ex-boyfriend’s eyes, his gaze strong and Minki knowing for sure that Dongho wants him, but not the way he wants anymore.

Yet Dongho doesn’t stop, moving closer to Minki, his hands moving from holding Minki’s, to lightly holding his waist. Minki knows if he was just as intoxicated as Dongho, it would be game over and they would already be heading back to his room. With every ounce of his willpower, he tries to push away but he’s weak to Dongho’s touch and he just won’t budge.

Dongho doesn’t say a word, but simply looks at Minki. His gaze screams “I want you” to Minki so bad that it’s frustrating. The temptation of not caring is so strong, but Minki knows where this path leads, Minki knows how hurt he was three months ago and how hard it was for him that he can’t. He looks away from Dongho’s eyes, knowing they’ll suck him in, as his attention is better anywhere else, but Dongho raises his hand, caresses the other’s face before gently moving his face to look at him.

And then Dongho kisses him. 

It’s a soft gentle kiss just like every other touch Dongho has placed on Minki’s body. For a second or two, Minki can feel himself becoming wrapped around Dongho’s finger just like before. That’s the charm of Kang Dongho. He seems like someone so rough and selfish on the outside, but when he’s with you, he’s gentle and loving in all the right ways. Minki wants to reciprocate. He wants to pull Dongho to his room and let him have his way with him. He wants to experience the same feelings as he did last time, even if it’s all an illusion.

But Minki’s stronger than that. 

He pushes Dongho away and runs away. It’s best for him to stay far away from this temptation. He can hear Dongho yell for him, but he hurriedly runs out of the apartment and into the elevator, pressing the close door button several times until it does close. Once he’s at the underground parking garage, he sits down at the steps and lets his tears fall.

Minki doesn’t even know what his emotions are at this point. Is he angry at Dongho for acting the way he did? Is he sad that things can never work out between them? Is he upset at the universe for making things the way that they are? Is he frustrated because he feels so defenseless towards Dongho? He really isn’t sure.

After what seems like forever, Minki wipes his tears from his eyes and walks back to the car. He figures it’s best for him not to go back inside. Hopefully Youngmin can take care of Jonghyun and make sure he comes home instead. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


Jonghyun has lost track of how many shots he’s taken and how many people he still has to get to at this point. 

He never found Daniel so he picked Hyunbin to come with him instead. Once everyone found out he was participating in the tradition, however, they mobbed Jonghyun to drink, so he didn’t even need Hyunbin in the first place. Some of his seniors cackle “let’s see if we can make the new guy pass out.” Since Jonghyun is the new one, he knows he can’t complain so he takes shots willingly. It’s not like he hates drinking anyway. Alcohol poisoning, what’s that? 

“Where’s Youngminnie?” Jonghyun huffs as he finally sits down away from the majority of people, crossing his arms, “He’s late!” 

“Jonghyun, drink some water.”

A water bottle is handed to him and he looks up and it’s Minhyun, looking a bit concerned, but Jonghyun isn’t having any of it right now.

“You said you weren’t going to take care of me,” Jonghyun pushes the water bottle away from him, looking the opposite way as he re-crosses his arms, “Just leave me alone.” 

“I decided to feel generous, okay?!” Minhyun spits out, immediately regretting his words as he says them. His voice raises a bit, but not enough for anyone to notice around them. He tries to hand the water bottle again to him, but instead of accepting and drinking out of it, Jonghyun takes it out of his hands and throws it away. 

“I never asked for your generosity, Hwang Minhyun,” Jonghyun gets up and storms off, but of course with the amount of alcohol in his system, he barely has the balance to do so. 

Minhyun can’t help but laugh at Jonghyun’s stumbling. It’s nothing new to him, but it brings him back to when they were dating. He memorized Jonghyun’s alcohol stages a long time ago and being grumpy and acting like a child is his second to last stage and it was his favorite. There used to be days where Jonghyun would whine and beg for kisses from Minhyun and Minhyun would always love to shower him with this stage of drunk Jonghyun with them. It was a sweet time.

 

While Minhyun has a good kick out of Jonghyun’s attitude, Jonghyun can feel the steam coming out of his ears as he stumbles away. He feels like Minhyun has become such an asshole since they were dating and he hates it. He misses the Minhyun that was so nice to him and respected him, but that Minhyun seems to be long gone. Reaching the alcohol table, he gets Daniel, who has reappeared, to pour him another shot, but once he takes grabs it from the younger, another hand wraps around his own, preventing him from pouring it down his throat.

“Haven’t you had enough?” 

Jonghyun looks and he sees Youngmin with a bright smile. His mood immediately changes for the better as he plants a sloppy wet kiss on his cheek, “Youngminnie! I missed you! When did you get here?”

“Not too long ago, I ‒”

Everyone’s attention switches towards them and Jonghyun can feel their stares, but he only looks to Youngmin with a happy smile. Despite having alcohol in his system, it has been a bit hard for him to talk to all these people without someone to rely on. Yes, Hyunbin and Daniel are fun and he’s starting to really enjoy them, but at the end of the day, he’s barely known them for less than a week.  

But when he notices as Youngmin’s face goes stone cold out of nowhere, his smile long gone, his mood changes. Youngmin, not even finishing his response, lets go of Jonghyun’s hand and storms away, looking straight in the eyes of Daniel’s roommate. What was his name? Donghan? 

“What are you doing here?” his voice is loud and clear, each word acting like daggers to the ears.

Youngmin’s voice echoes in the room as it goes silent. Everyone was just about ready to tease Youngmin and Jonghyun for being too cute, but things changed in a way unexpected. He has always been someone so bright and happy that it’s shocking to see him serious for once.

“Y-Youngmin hyung…” 

It goes quiet as Donghyun doesn’t say anything, too nervous and in shock to think. Youngmin isn’t that much taller or older than him, but at this moment he seems so big and scary. The noise in the room continues again as drunk people have a small attention span and can’t care enough to wait for Donghyun to say anything. It helps and he hopes that’s enough to let him off the hook. He takes a step back, but he keeps his gaze on Youngmin, his eyes wavering and his hands shaking. 

“Come on. Answer me, Donghyun. What are you doing here?”

“Yah, Youngmin. Don’t be so mean,” Jisung mutters without thinking, one of the few people still watching what’s going on. His mouth quickly gets covered by Sungwoon as Youngmin glares at him. The younger doesn’t say a word, but his face said everything.

“I-I-I’m Daniel’s new roommate. He invited me here since it’d be weird if I wasn't. I wanted to make some friends since I don’t really know anyone here anymore.” He grits his teeth, hoping that Youngmin will be okay with his reasoning as it is the truth, but the older is quick to shut him down.

“Oh? I see,” Youngmin scoffs, his sarcasm coming full prime, “So while  _ I  _ was out eating dinner with  _ your  _ family, you were here having a fun time here, drinking your heart away. They told me you had something important so you last minute cancelled. I didn’t know this was  _ that _ important.” 

“You ate with my family?” Donghyun blinks, his eyebrows furrowed as he looks more than shocked, “Why would you even do that?” 

“Because they were so worried about you!” Youngmin groans, his hand rubbing the back of his neck, “You come back to Seoul, but you don’t even contact them. _Somehow_ ‒ I don’t know how ‒  they knew I live around here so they called me and asked me to have dinner with them. I can never refuse them after all they did for me so I say sure. The whole dinner your parents asked me to watch out for you, me, someone you haven’t seen in years, but of course they didn’t know that.” 

Donghyun tries to come up with something to say, “I-I’m sorry.” 

Youngmin isn’t usually like this. He’s almost never serious and he smiles brightly. If anything, he’s usually the one to think about his words for too long and stutter when he does speak, well, that’s how Donghyun remembers him. Seeing the completely opposite throws the younger off and makes him at a complete loss of words.

“Save it,” he hisses as he turns around, looking at his co-workers, “I’m not in the mood to party anymore. I’ll see you guys Monday morning.” 

Youngmin walks back to the entrance and it takes every ounce of energy in Donghyun to run after him. He doesn’t want things to end like this and he wants to share his side of the story, but Youngmin runs too fast and by the time he’s out of the apartment door, the elevator door is already closing. 

Donghyun has missed his chance again. It feels all too familiar.

  
  
  


Once the ringing of the door shutting close ends, the conversations continue and everyone acts like nothing has happened. Jonghyun is quick to take the shot that Youngmin had previously prevented him from

“Shouldn’t you be worried?” Daniel gives Jonghyun a confused look as the older puts the shot glass down on the table, asking for more. 

Jonghyun shrugs, “Youngmin can take care of himself. He’ll tell me tomorrow the details.”

Daniel decides not to question it and continues to let Jonghyun drink. Yes, Jonghyun is a bit concerned, but Youngmin has always been an independent person in his mind that he doesn’t really care. Despite the whole Youngmin and Donghyun situation, all on his mind right now is  _ still  _ Minhyun. Maybe it’s because he can notice as Minhyun looks at him from afar and  _ fuck _ , why does he have to still look so handsome after all these years? But all Jonghyun wants him gone from his thoughts, so Jonghyun drinks and drinks until his memory becomes a blur. 

 

After another hour or two, everyone is just about done drinking for the night. A lot of people have sobered up and/or are extremely exhausted, but some people are still just out of it. 

And of course, that includes Jonghyun, who is currently almost passed out on the living room couch.

People start deciding to leave, calling ubers to take them home as none of them are sober enough to drive. First to leave in a packed Uber XL are Taehyun, Yongguk, Donghan, Sanggyun, Hyunbin and Kenta (they all live together), who all laugh as they say goodbye to Jonghyun, being some of the main culprits to his condition. It’s devious, but they don’t care because they all experienced it when they first entered the company.

“Minhyun, can you take care of  _ that _ one tonight?” Jisung points to Jonghyun, who now has found a soju bottle that has not been finished, taking his opportunity to drink even more. They both watch as he finishes the bottle and goes back to laying down on the couch.

Minhyun hesitates, “Uhm, Ji‒”

“Why can’t he just go with you guys?” Dongho interrupts to grab a bottle of water, in an obvious bad mood. After the situation with Minki, he spent the rest of the party in his room. 

“None of us are in the condition to take care of him. Seongwoo is about to pass out and Sungwoon is still drunk. I need to sleep as much as I can because of my parents. Besides, Minhyun’s sober and he’s good at taking care of drunk people,” Jisung sighs, “But I mean, if it’s that big of a problem, I’ll ju‒”

“It’s fine, hyung. I’ll take care of him.”

Dongho glares at his roommate before walking away, “ _ Fine _ , whatever you say. I’m going to bed so you’re on your own.” 

He walks away and Minhyun shines a smile, “Don’t worry about him. He’s just not in a good mood for some reason. I’ll take care of Jonghyun. You can count on me.”

“Good!” Jisung mirrors the smile, but it quickly goes away once he hears Seongwoo and Sungwoon yell at him as they want to go home already. He turns around to look at them and curses, “Hold up, you whiny fucks.” 

“By the way, Minhyun,” Jisung looks back to the younger, “I noticed you two went to the same university on his resume, so I figure this would be a nice time to catch up. Why didn’t you two say anything this week about knowing each other?”

“Oh, I don’t know. It just didn’t seem important to mention,” Minhyun shrugs off, surprised that Jisung would even notice something like that, “You should go. Sungwoon hyung looks like he’s about to rip off your head.” 

The boss agrees and the remaining three leave the apartment. Minhyun can’t help but sigh in relief once the door closes and they’re gone. He looks to Jonghyun and frowns as he thinks to himself, “Wow, Minki and Youngmin both just left him, huh? What’s up with that?” Walking closer, his soft smile returns as Jonghyun looks at him with an unreadable expression. He finds an unopened water bottle on the floor, probably the one Jonghyun threw earlier, and picks it up to hand it to him. 

“Jonghyun, you have to drink water. You’re going to hate yourself tomorrow if you don’t.” 

“M-Minhyunnie,” Jonghyun tugs on the hem of Minhyun’s shirt with tears on his eyes, “I’m  _ so  _ sad, like really sad.” 

The sober of the two looks off to the side, taking a deep breath as he realizes Jonghyun has hit his final stage of drunkenness. His emotional and completely  _ messy  _ stage. Anyone else would have a struggle taking care of Jonghyun and providing his needs, but luckily Minhyun is an expert in Kim Jonghyun,  _ if _ he hasn’t changed. 

Minhyun looks back at Jonghyun and kneels down, wiping the tears from his face gently. He can’t help but feel nostalgic, knowing he’s been in this situation many times before. It may have been years ago but the memories flood back quickly. When Jisung told him to take care of Jonghyun initially, he hesitated to respond because he thought he would be frustrated the entire time. Jonghyun has been such a brat to him lately, and yes he may deserve it due to the breakup and some of his recent rude remarks, but he has also been trying hard to be nice. This whole party he found himself constantly watching Jonghyun from afar and it made him so mad because he didn’t want himself to pay attention to him. If Jonghyun wanted to drink his heart away and have a horrible hangover, then he should just let him do that and not worry for him. 

But at this moment, as Jonghyun’s tears fall and Minhyun catches them, he forgets all his frustration and he realizes that he still cares for Jonghyun so much. 

“You’re sad? I don’t like it when you’re sad, Jju-yah.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is literally a mess. i hope it's not offputting how like yeah, of course these 3 people are having problems with their exes at the same time bc when i realized it, i felt like it was a bit offputting to me but i hope i write their stories well enough that it doesnt matter?? idk baekren rly wasnt supposed to get that whole scene and emotion but when i was writing it, it just kinda happened but it was nice so im not complaining sjkdfhssd i hope u guys liked it pls give me feedback of what u think since this was a heavy info chapter.


	4. what happened?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> trying to pick things up after what happened at the party

 

Waking up with an excruciating headache, Jonghyun swears he’ll never drink again. But he knows he will, because that’s the type of person he is.

He finds himself wrapped in a blanket on the couch of Daniel’s living room. He looks around and he notices Minhyun in the dining area, setting up bowls and utensils. This is Daniel’s place, but why was Minhyun still here? He didn’t drink and could’ve easily went home last night.

“What the hell are you still doing here?” Jonghyun groans, grabbing the attention of the other. “Why didn’t you go home?”

“Don’t you know?” Minhyun furrows his eyebrows, “I live here too. This isn’t _only_ Daniel’s place.”

Jonghyun is shocked, connecting the pieces right away that if Minhyun lives here, so does Dongho. He kept telling Minki that everything was okay and he had nothing to worry about, but Minki had every right to be concerned. No wonder he was left behind by his housemates.

“You should eat before you go. I made breakfast,” Minhyun cuts the silence as he tosses a water bottle to him as well, “You probably need that.”

He can’t help but glare at Minhyun. Who does he think he is acting nice to him like nothing ever happened? Sure, he is in his turf right now, but Minhyun really doesn’t have to act like this, “Don’t think we’re friends because of this, okay?”

“Woah, don’t be mean to Minhyun hyung,” Daniel interrupts, already finding a spot at the dining table to eat, “He was the one who took care of you and your drunk ass last night.”

Jonghyun finds himself without words. He didn’t expect Minhyun to do anything, especially with how cold shoulder Jonghyun has been to him.

“It was no big deal. Just eat.”

Jonghyun gets up off the couch and sits next to Daniel. He feels awkward to sit there and eat, but he can’t ignore his stomach’s cries for food. It’s Minhyun’s famous soup too, something that used to always cure Jonghyun’s hangovers that he can’t refuse. After taking a couple bites, his stomach is happy. It doesn’t last long as he hears a door open and close, having a 50% chance it is someone he doesn’t want it to be.

“What is he still doing here?”

Shivers run down Jonghyun’s spine as he looks behind him and sees Dongho glaring at him. His 50% chance was for the worst. He slowly gets up to leave, but Daniel pushes him back down to sit.

“He’s eating before he goes,” Minhyun coldly replies, sitting down to eat across from Jonghyun at the table, “And you should eat too, Mr. Grumpy Pants.”

“He shouldn’t be here in the first place,” Dongho hisses, staring straight at Minhyun who doesn’t seem to be phased an inch.

“And who are you to decide that? Bo‒”

“I’ll just go. Clearly I overstayed my welcome. ” Jonghyun interrupts as he stands up, despite Daniel holding onto his hand to stay, “See you guys Monday morning. I’m sorry for being a disturbance to your apartment.”

He can only vaguely hear Minhyun and Daniel’s cries to stay before he walks out of the apartment. A sigh leaves his mouth as he goes down the elevator to the front of the building, calling an Uber to pick him up and take him home.

 

 

 

The door slams shut and Minhyun slams his chopsticks down on the table, looking straight at his roommate, “You’re such a fucking brat, you know that?”

“If I don’t want someone in the apartment that I pay money for, I have a right to say something,” Dongho hisses as he glares back.

“It doesn’t fucking hurt you at all if he stayed for a little bit! The guy drank twice as much as you and needed to eat, but noooo, someone has to have a damn grudge.” Minhyun rolls his eyes.

Dongho exhales hot breath in anger, “Why do you even care about him? The two of you ended for a reason, so leave it at that.”

Minhyun scoffs, “You’re the last person to say that after what happened between you and Minki.”

The other goes quiet, staring at the floor solemnly that Minhyun finds himself regretting his words just a bit, “I don’t want you making the same stupid mistakes that I did, okay? I should’ve just left him in the past and you should do that too.”

“Dongho…”

“Wait a minute here, you and Jonghyun hyung used to date?” Daniel looks at his housemates confusingly, asking a bit too late due to his hangover, “Why the fuck have I not known this before? Minhyun hyung, I thought you would tell me something like this!”

The two of them turn to Daniel and awkwardly smile, “It’s a bit of a sensitive issue. Jonghyun and I didn’t… break up on good terms.”

“You fucked up, didn’t you?” the younger’s smile goes wide as Minhyun looks away, “It was your fault, huh?” he laughs loudly, having a kick out of a situation that was serious a couple of minutes ago.

“Either way,” Dongho cuts back in, making the mood serious once again, “Isn’t he dating Youngmin anyway? If you’re not gonna cut him out of your life, you should at least not fall for him again.”

Minhyun rolls his eyes, “I’m not. You’re being ridiculous.”

The conversation comes to a close and Minhyun swirls his spoon in his soup. His thoughts can’t help go to Jonghyun after Dongho’s words and it leaves him distraught. It isn’t love that he feels for Jonghyun now ‒ he’s pretty sure of it. It can’t be, but if it’s not that, then what is it? What is this unusual lingering feeling in his heart?

  


 

Jonghyun walks into the living room and he sees Youngmin and Minki sitting on the couch, waiting for him. “We’re having a talk, huh?”

The two nod and Jonghyun sits down with them. He’s waiting for one of them to start, but they don’t say anything, simply awkwardly looking at each other instead.

“So… I’ll start,” Minki finally cuts through the silence, getting the attention of the other two immediately, “Since both of you didn’t really witness the situation.”

Minki takes a deep breath before speaking, “So, until we entered, I had no idea the party was at Dongho’s place. Honestly, I wouldn’t have come if I knew beforehand. Since I was already there, it would be weird to leave so I just wanted to wait until Youngmin came to leave. I didn’t tell Jonghyun because I didn’t want to ruin his mood. But then…”

He can vividly remember the moment, the smell of Dongho’s alcohol breath, the wanting stare he gave him, the touch of his hands on his skin, the familiar feeling of his lips against his own. It’s a bit overwhelming that Minki can’t help but pause in the midst of his words.

“Dongho came up to me. He was pretty drunk, which was surprising because he usually never drinks. In all the years I’ve known him, that’s the second time I’ve seen him drunk,” Minki scoffs as he reminisces of the first time. It wasn’t nearly as eventful, just a small party and Dongho getting a little tipsy, “He tells me that he’s drunk because he saw me. He tells me he misses me and kisses me.”

The other two only gasp as they are at a lost of words and Minki can’t help but softly chuckle, “It’s a bit funny though. These past three months I wished for this, him missing me and his lips against mine, but at that moment, I realized I didn’t want it anymore, so… yeah.”

“I see,” Jonghyun sighs, “So you just went home after that?”

“Y-yeah, I didn’t know when Youngmin would come, so I just came back here,” Minki smiles softly at the two, “That’s… about it. What happened with you two?”

Youngmin looks at Minki, getting a sense that he’s a bit suspicious. He knows there’s nothing he could really say to change anything, so he just continues the story telling instead, “Daniel’s new roommate is my ex-boyfriend.”

He looks to his hands as he pauses, trying to think about what to say. “So, a couple days ago, I got a text from his mother asking if I wanted to eat dinner with them. She was persistent that I couldn’t say no, especially with considering how much her and her family did for me. At first I was happy that Donghyun didn’t show up to the dinner, but seeing him having fun at the party made me so upset. Why was I at a dinner with his parents telling me how much they were concerned for him while he was drinking and having a great time? It was ridiculous.”

  


 

“It’s been a while. I’m glad to see you all are still in good health,” Youngmin smiles politely as he sits at the restaurant table with Donghyun’s parents and twin brother, “Is Donghyun coming too?”

Donghyun’s dad sighs, “He was supposed to, but he said there was something important he had to attend to so he’s not coming.”

Youngmin internally feels relieved, not wanting to deal with his ex-boyfriend. Donghyun’s mom looks at him with a smile, “It’s better that he’s not here anyway.”

“W-what do you mean?” Youngmin furrows his eyebrows in confusion. Donghyun’s family absolutely adores him that it makes no sense why they wouldn’t want him around.

“Let’s order first and then we’ll talk more.”

The table goes silent as they decide what to order. Donghyun’s family isn’t extremely rich, but they’re well off, the prices on the food menu showing it. Youngmin would never eat here unless it is a special occasion, but he knows that as usual they’ll pay for it, so he picks whatever he wants. In the past, he used to always want to pay for his own food that now he knows, it’s better not to fight them about paying.

After their food comes, Youngmin is barely able to sink his knife into his meat before Donghyun’s mom continues the conversation, “We’re a bit concerned about Donghyun. After he graduated university, he didn’t want to come back home for a while. He was hardly answering our calls or texts. Then, suddenly, we find out that he’s moved back to Seoul in an apartment.”

“It makes absolutely no sense that he would want to live at an apartment when our house is a lot more pleasant and he doesn’t have to pay for rent,” Donghyun’s dad cuts into the conversation.

“Anyway,” Donghyun’s mom sighs as she looks at Youngmin with a sullen expression, “we knew you were living in Seoul and we wanted to ask if you could just watch out for him like you used to. It would really mean a lot to us.”

Youngmin is sure that his family doesn’t know that him and Donghyun haven’t spoken since they broke up, but he can’t let them know that, “Why can’t Taehyun watch out for him? They’re twins.”

“Uhm, I’m studying abroad for my graduate degree soon, so I won’t be here,” Taehyun explains, “It’s not like he tells me anything anyways lately. He’s been very closed off to me too.”

“So, what do you say, Youngmin?” the three of them look at him with gleaming eyes.

Youngmin doesn’t want to lie to his parents and say he’ll watch out for him when he has no idea where Donghyun is and nor does he want to know. There’s no other choice though as the table would be extremely awkward if he says no.

“Of course I will. He’s like a little brother to me.”

  


 

“So now that you know where he is, are you actually going to look after him?”

Youngmin shrugs, “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to avoid him since our break up and I wanted to keep it that way. We’ll see what happens, I suppose. It’s not like I’m close with his apartment anyway, like I didn’t even know Daniel lived in the same apartment as Minhyun and Dongho.”

“Really? That’s surprising,” Jonghyun says with eyebrows slightly raised.

“I mean, we’re friendly! I don’t hate them at all. I talk to them sometimes, but that’s about it,” Youngmin squints at Jonghyun, “Anyway, you’re next. What happened with you after I left?”

Jonghyun tries to think back to the previous night but his brain goes empty, “I don’t know. I blacked out. All I remember is you leaving, drinking, and then nothing.”

Minki immediately turns to hit Jonghyun repeatedly, “You messy bitch, of course you did. Stop drinking so much! Your liver is dying!”

“OUCH, I’M SORRY,” Jonghyun grabs Minki’s wrists to try to get him to stop, but Minki’s stronger than him so it doesn’t work out, “I was upset because I kept thinking about Minhyun, so I just drank.”

Minki stops hitting Jonghyun in an instant, “Thinking about Minhyun? Do you like him again? I swear to god, Jonghyun‒”

“No, I don’t. He was trying to be nice to me at first and then I pushed him away,” Jonghyun groans, “Also, you can’t admit that he still looks cute as fuck. It makes me angry.”

Youngmin can’t help but laugh, “If you say so, but you should probably figure out what happened when you blacked out.”

“Yeah I know,” Jonghyun bites his lower lip, “Minhyun apparently was the one who took care of me last night, which is a bit unsettling, but I’ll text him.”

“You probably cried all over him about some anime, knowing how you get when you’re drunk,” Minki chuckles, “Anyway, if that’s all, you guys wanna get lunch together? I’m so hungry.”

“Sure, let me just shower first. I reek of alcohol still,” Jonghyun hurries to his shared room, but instead of undressing and heading to the bathroom he takes out his phone first. When they broke up, Jonghyun never had the heart to delete Minhyun’s contact, so it’s still in his phone.

 

**To: Hwang Minhyun [12:04pm]**

hey uh idk if this is still ur number but if it is im srry about being messy and staying over last night

also i have no recollection of anything after youngmin left,, did anything happen that i need to know about?

  
  
  


 

 

By the time Minhyun gets Jonghyun’s text, he’s laying in bed, completely exhausted after cleaning up the apartment from the party. Daniel and Dongho promised to help him, but that didn’t turn out well, so it was just him and Donghyun. However, Donghyun was really slow and didn’t know where anything was so he wasn’t much of a help.

He stares at Jonghyun’s text for a while, not sure what to say. His memory of last night is crystal clear, but he wishes it wasn’t.

  


 

“You’re sad? I don’t like it when you’re sad, Jju-yah,” Minhyun wipes away Jonghyun’s tears, “Why are you sad?”

Jonghyun goes silent as he looks at the floor. He moves Minhyun’s hands away from his face and frowns, “You make me sad, Minhyunnie.”

Minhyun doesn’t know what to say so he lets Jonghyun continue to talk. “I-I hate you. I hate you so much,” Jonghyun continues to cry as he speaks, hitting Minhyun’s chest as well, “You hurt me so much. You just b-broke my heart and left my life in an instant. I was in so much pain because of you. I didn’t know what to do.”

These words aren’t shocking to Minhyun. He’s known since the day they broke up that he hurt Jonghyun and it was his fault, but he can’t help but feel hurt hearing Jonghyun speak. Jonghyun obviously doesn’t know that and just lets his emotions go, “ I wanted to live my l-life without seeing your stupidly handsome face ever again. You’re an asshole and you hurt me so so _sooo_ much.”

Minhyun holds Jonghyun’s wrist that was still continuously hitting him, “I’m sorry, Jju-yah. I’m really sorry.”

“Why didn’t you just stay in Japan? Why did you have to come back here?” Jonghyun raises his voice a bit as he uses his other hand to hit Minhyun’s chest, “That would’ve been so much easier.”

“I’m sorry,” Minhyun can’t think of any other words to say. He can’t really explain himself to a drunk person who probably won’t remember what he has to say.

Jonghyun continues to babble, which is usual. Most people push him to fall asleep, but Minhyun knows it’s best to let him talk, but he has to remind him several times to lower his volume, “I was so close to quitting the company when I saw you were there, you know.”

Minhyun laughs softly, “I’m not surprised.”

“I was so scared and I was going to leave, but I have rent to pay,” Jonghyun makes an angry face, but Minhyun can’t help but think he looks a little silly, “I was going to go back home, but Minki was like _‘I’m not letting you leave me again.’_ ” Jonghyun tries to make his best Minki impression, but it doesn’t turn out well.

“Again? I thought you guys were always roommates.” Minhyun has the vivid memory of Minki and Jonghyun being roommates all four years of college and if they were roommates now too, doesn’t that mean they’ve been roommates all this time?

“I‒”

Jonghyun is about to reply, but he covers his mouth. Minhyun’s eyes go wide as he drags the other to the closest bathroom to throw up, pulling him onto the floor and head right to the toilet. In a small circles, Minhyun rubs Jonghyun’s back. It lasts a few minutes before Jonghyun pulls his head back up. “False alarm. I’m not a weak bitch who throws up.”

Minhyun can’t help but laugh. He figures it’s best to force Jonghyun to brush his teeth while they’re in the bathroom, so he grabs one of the spare toothbrushes from the cabinet and hands it to Jonghyun. Surprisingly, Jonghyun complies, but Minhyun still keeps a close eye on him.

If he is honest, Minhyun doesn’t have a special trick to handling completely drunk Jonghyun. The only reasons why Minhyun is the best at taking care of him is because he knows what drunk Jonghyun wants and Jonghyun only listens to Minhyun. Well, that’s how it used to be for sure. Minki or their other university friends would try to take care of him, but Jonghyun would be 1000x more fussy and disobedient. With Minhyun, Jonghyun would cry and sass him, but he usually listened to him.

Jonghyun finishes brushing his teeth and looks at Minhyun with an unreadable expression. Before he knows it, Jonghyun pushes Minhyun against the door and has his hands on either side of Minhyun’s face. His eyes go wide as he looks at the other, who is smiling at him brightly, “You’re stupidly handsome, you asshole.”

“I-I-I’m sorry?” Minhyun feels his cheeks blush as Jonghyun moves his face closer to his own. It’s not a new experience to him for sure, but this isn’t a situation he expected himself in.

Without a word, Jonghyun presses his lips against Minhyun’s. He doesn’t settle for one kiss, but goes into the second and the third until Minhyun stops counting and starts reciprocating. It feels so natural even after all these years that Minhyun finds himself moving his hands under Jonghyun’s shirt and moving him against the wall. 

Minhyun knows he should stop because Jonghyun clearly is not sober. He tries to tell himself just one more kiss, but he can’t stop himself. The feeling of Jonghyun’s skin under his fingertips and Jonghyun’s lips against his own is addicting. Hearing his soft moans as the kisses get steamier make him crave for more of Jonghyun.

It’s only until Jonghyun pulls away that they stop. Minhyun is breathless and a bit disappointed, but before he could protest, Jonghyun falls into his arms, “I’m sleepy, Minhyunnie.” Despite being tired, Jonghyun moves Minhyun's shirt and sucks on his skin. Minhyun knows that'll leave a mark, but he doesn't say anything and just picks Jonghyun up so he could sleep. 

He feels a bit ridiculous as he carries Jonghyun back to the couch as if nothing ever happened. Minhyun knows there’s a part of him that wants to have Jonghyun sleep in his bed but sober Jonghyun and Dongho probably wouldn’t like that. He wraps Jonghyun in his spare blanket and smiles at the sight of him sleeping soundly.

Minhyun wants to just stay there, but he shouldn’t. He knows it’s better if he sleeps in his own bed, so he turns off the lights and goes to his room. After washing up and brushing his teeth, he falls asleep without much thought.

  
  


Minhyun opens his front camera and looks at his shoulder. Jonghyun's mark is small, but the purple color is clearly noticeable on Minhyun's pale skin. It's his only evidence of last night and he doesn't know whether he hates it or likes it. Done with looking at it, he closes his camera app and opens the text again.

“Isn’t he dating Youngmin anyway?”

Dongho’s words ring loudly in Minhyun’s head as he looks at Jonghyun’s text. He completely forgot about Youngmin’s existence during that part of the night. Honestly, Minhyun doesn’t even know how he let it escape his head as that’s all he thinks about when he sees Jonghyun at work. It’s not like he cares about Jonghyun and who he dates. He’s just curious about their relationship, that’s all. It’s only office gossip.

Minhyun ponders whether he should tell the truth or not, but he figures it’s best if Jonghyun doesn’t know anything. Sober Jonghyun doesn’t really like him anyway and would not like him even more if he knew.

 

**To: Jju [12:08pm]**

nothing rly u tried throwing up but u couldnt

afterwards u passed out on the couch

**To: Hwang Minhyun [12:10pm]**

oh cool thanks for taking care of me btw

**To: Jju [12:11pm]**

no problem : )

 

He realizes as he lies that the unusual feeling he felt during breakfast was guilt. It was the guilt of kissing his ex-boyfriend who is clearly taken and _fuck_ , does he regret it.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i dont know what took me a while to write this but i hope it was enjoyable!! we finally got some 2hyun action after 4 chapters djskfhsdkj anyway ill try to be regular again with my updates  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> please feel free to talk to me at [twitter](https://twitter.com/foxhyuns)  
> or send me plots you would like a short whip/drabble of at my [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/btobooty)


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